While preparing my 2008 road trip to the Twin Peaks filming locations in Washington state, I envisioned myself doing it in style. Instead of a typical rental car, I wanted to cruise from the Double R Diner to the Great Northern in Bobby Briggs’ sexy 1969 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible, Leland Palmer’s 1975 classy Chevrolet Caprice Convertible, or maybe James Hurley’s bike, the 1975 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide.
But that didn’t happen. Of course I didn’t find any of these rides for rent and I ended up driving a KIA. Luckily, that didn’t make my first visit to Twin Peaks any less of a magical experience.
Talking about the motorcycles and vehicles in Twin Peaks, Charles of In Twin Peaks compiled a list of all the Twin Peaks cars, their makes and build dates along with stills from the show and movie. I’ve already sent Charles some clues regarding the few unidentified cars left on the list, but if you recognize any of them, please share make and build date in the comments below.
Some examples:
- Special Agent Dale Cooper’s car he drives into Twin Peaks with is a 1981 Dodge Diplomat
- Donna Hayward pulls up to Big Ed’s gas station with a 1980 Ford Fairmont Wagon
- Bobby Briggs drives a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in the series, as opposed to the Plymouth he takes Shelly home with in the pilot
- The Twin Peaks police car that crosses Bobby and Shelly is a Ford LTD Crown Victoria
- Big Ed’s truck is a 1962 Chevrolet C-10
- Leo Johnson’s truck is a Kenworth W-900, but his fancy car is a 1990 Chevrolet Corvette
- Laura Palmer’s car in the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a 1956 Buick Roadmaster Riviera
- The One-Armed Man’s truck in the movie is a 1975 Toyota Hilux Chinook. That was actually Al Strobel’s own car by the way, which he used to drive up to to Snoqualmie for filming.
You can find the entire list of cars over here.
From a buddy of mine Who Knows Things: “Nice list. The “as yet to be identified” list is not that hard. The more unusual ones are a ’59 DeSoto and a ’60-’62 Rambler (named the “Rambler Classic” in ’61 and ’62). There’s too little of Jacoby’s car to tell, but I think it’s a Pontiac Catalina/Bonneville from ’65-’70.”